Chapter Summaries

The narrator, An Ning, and Seventh Master climbed to Hanging Peak Ancient Temple to seek Huixin’s help understanding Gongsun Jing’s fate. They discovered Huixin was the young novice they had mistaken for an ordinary monk, and he revealed that Gongsun Jing had been reincarnated as a human.

• The narrator drove An Ning, Seventh Master, and Xiuzhu to Fengdu City to visit Huixin at Hanging Peak Ancient Temple.
• The group climbed for more than two hours, carrying Xiuzhu in turns, and reached the ancient temple at the summit.
• A young novice told Seventh Master that the other monks had gone down the mountain, so the group waited for nearly three hours.
• Seventh Master led the narrator and An Ning into the hall for ten minutes, as Wang Xiaoxian had instructed.
• As they were leaving, the narrator and Seventh Master realized the young novice was Huixin and asked him about Gongsun Jing and Monk Daojue.
• Huixin said Gongsun Jing had been reincarnated as a human.

Master Huixin revealed that Gongsun Jing gave up immortality to chant scriptures for the Ghost King for over a thousand years, then reincarnated and joined her in bearing her karmic retribution. He told the narrator and An Ning to descend the ninety-nine steps, where they would find the answer to where the pair were in this life.

• Master Huixin explained that Gongsun Jing gave up his chance to become an immortal and stayed in the Underworld to recite scriptures for the Ghost King.
• The narrator concluded that Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King had loved each other, while the Seventh Master reflected on the tragedies of their era.
• Master Huixin said Judge Cui released the Ghost King early because of Gongsun Jing's vigil, and both were later reincarnated.
• Master Huixin revealed that Gongsun Jing entered the Ghost King's karmic retribution in her next life rather than protecting her from it.
• Master Huixin told the narrator and An Ning to descend the ninety-nine steps to learn where Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King were in this life.

After realizing Huixin had been in front of them all along, the narrator and An Ning recognize that they are Gongsun Jing and the reincarnated Ghost King. Huixin explains that their past and future lives are bound by fate, leaving the narrator with answers but also new questions.

• The narrator and An Ning wait at the ninety-ninth step but fail to find Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King.
• The narrator realizes Huixin was the young novice all along and deduces that Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King are present too.
• The narrator and An Ning recognize each other as Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King, and the narrator realizes Daojue is inside him.
• The narrator recalls An Ning’s troubled childhood and wonders whether Du Yuwei shared the Ghost King’s reincarnation.
• Back at the temple, Huixin says fate explains their connection and notes Xiuzhu’s extraordinary link across a hundred years.
• The narrator thanks Huixin, still unsettled by the answers and mysteries surrounding their lives.

After learning about their past lives, Chen Mo struggled with his feelings for An Ning and feared that loving her would bring her death. His friends urged him to live for the present, but he remained convinced he had nothing to offer her and could only keep his feelings hidden.

• On the drive down the mountain, Seventh Master told Chen Mo to focus on living as Chen Mo in this life rather than dwelling on his past as Gongsun Jing.
• Chen Mo invited Song Xiaotian and Yi Yang for drinks and told them what he had learned at Hanging Peak Ancient Temple.
• Song Xiaotian and Yi Yang said Chen Mo and An Ning liked each other and encouraged him to confess his feelings.
• Drunk, Chen Mo admitted that he loved An Ning but feared his fate would curse her to death, as he believed it had his father, grandfather, and Fang Man.

After learning that he and An Ning were reincarnations of Gongsun Jing and the Ghost King, the narrator feared his curse would kill her and resisted confessing his feelings. Song Xiaotian tricked him into believing An Ning had resigned, and his panicked reaction convinced him he had to confess and find a way to restore his fate pattern.

• Song Xiaotian and Yi Yang urged the narrator to confess to An Ning, but he refused because he feared his curse would cause her death.
• The narrator got drunk without calling An Ning, then learned from Song Xiaotian the next morning that she had supposedly resigned and left.
• The narrator rushed to the shop in his boxer shorts and broke down when Song Xiaotian said An Ning might have gone to another city.
• Xie Peng revealed that An Ning had only gone out to hand out flyers, and Song Xiaotian admitted he had lied to provoke the narrator.
• After realizing he could not bear An Ning leaving or marrying someone else, the narrator decided to confess and seek a way to restore his fate pattern.

After Song Xiaotian’s prank made him realize how much An Ning mattered to him, the narrator found letters he had written to himself and remembered what happened with his mother. He confessed to An Ning, who agreed to be with him, and he told her he needed time to resolve his family’s fate and take responsibility.

• The narrator decided to confess his feelings to An Ning and found two letters he had written to himself in his formal clothes.
• Reading the letters made the narrator remember what had happened with his mother.
• The narrator went to An Ning’s home and explained how Song Xiaotian’s prank had made him realize his feelings.
• The narrator told An Ning, “I like you,” and An Ning accepted his confession.
• The narrator warned An Ning that his fate could endanger her and asked for time to resolve the situation, while An Ning said she was not afraid.

After confessing his feelings to An Ning, the narrator asked Seventh Master how to separate Li Fuguang from his body. Their hypnosis attempt failed, and Seventh Master revealed that a wanted fugitive might know a forbidden Soul-Peeling Art.

• The narrator confessed his feelings to An Ning, promised to recover and propose to her, and left after she hugged him.
• The narrator shared the news with Song Xiaotian, Meng Yifan, and his senior brother, then overslept after Meng Yifan questioned him late into the night.
• The narrator visited Seventh Master and asked for another way to remove Li Fuguang from his body.
• Seventh Master tried to hypnotize the narrator and use Maoshan's Soul-Separation Art, but Li Fuguang destroyed the talisman and the attempt failed.
• Seventh Master told the narrator about the forbidden Soul-Peeling Art and said its practitioner had massacred a household more than twenty years earlier and remained at large.

The narrator asked Seventh Master about changing his flawed Fate Pattern, and Seventh Master explained that it likely belonged to Li Fuguang, whose soul had affected the narrator. Seventh Master warned that Li Fuguang’s continued presence might be protecting the narrator from an unknown threat, then the narrator begged him to obtain a protective talisman for An Ning.

• The narrator asked Seventh Master to help find Zhang Chengfeng, who knew the Soul-Peeling Art, and admitted he wanted to restore his Fate Pattern.
• Seventh Master teased the narrator about confessing his feelings to An Ning and said their feelings were mutual.
• Seventh Master explained that the narrator’s severe Fate Pattern flaws probably came from Li Fuguang’s soul and weak ties to the Six Kin.
• Seventh Master warned that Li Fuguang might be staying inside the narrator for an important reason, and that his emergence could expose the narrator to an unknown threat, possibly from Wu Huaqing.
• Seventh Master suggested the narrator and An Ning flee into seclusion if danger became unavoidable and offered to seek a protective talisman for her.
• The narrator clung to Seventh Master’s leg and begged him to obtain the talisman, while Seventh Master called him vicious.

The narrator learned that Zhang Chengfeng, the fugitive who knew the Soul-Peeling Art, had been spotted near his abandoned hometown of Tang Village, where a veteran police officer later lost his Human Soul. Seventh Master warned that Zhang Chengfeng might belong to the organization, so the narrator waited for an expert and his disciple to scout the village before going there himself.

• Seventh Master gave the narrator a Daoist protective talisman, which he put around An Ning's neck.
• Seventh Master told the narrator that Zhang Chengfeng had been identified in Ping County before fleeing into the countryside near Tang Village.
• The narrator learned that Tang Village had been abandoned after a mudslide and that a veteran officer who staked it out returned with his Human Soul missing.
• Seventh Master said an expert and his disciple had gone to Tang Village to investigate, and the narrator wanted to follow them.
• Seventh Master warned that Zhang Chengfeng might have belonged to the organization and advised the narrator to wait for news from the expert and his disciple.

At an industry conference, Chen Mo told Du Yunting that he and An Ning loved each other, then confronted Du Yunting about his past. The next morning, Chen Mo learned that an expert and his apprentice had vanished in Tang Village, so he gathered Yi Yang and An Ning to investigate, while Song Xiaotian stayed behind.

• Chen Mo approached Du Yunting at the industry conference and teased him about his newfound public-speaking fame.
• Chen Mo told Du Yunting that An Ning loved him and said he planned to avenge Fang Man, leaving Du Yunting distraught.
• Chen Mo learned from Seventh Master that the expert and his apprentice had been missing in Tang Village for three days, suggesting Zhang Chengfeng was still there.
• Chen Mo invited Yi Yang to investigate Tang Village, warned him of the danger, and Yi Yang agreed to go.
• An Ning joined the expedition, while Song Xiaotian refused to go and insisted he needed to stay at work.

Chen Mo traveled to Lin City with Yi Yang and met Little Yang, who took them to see the traumatized old officer Shen. Chen Mo used an illusion to enter Shen’s memory and discovered fourteen memorial tablets beyond those belonging to Zhang Chengfeng and his family, raising questions about who had died.

• Chen Mo booked flights to Lin City for himself, Yi Yang, and An Ning, and Yi Yang became nervous when the plane took off.
• Little Yang met them at the airport and explained that his master believed Shen had lost a soul after seeing something terrifying.
• Little Yang drove them to the hospital, where Master Sun warned that Shen was mentally impaired and could not answer questions.
• Chen Mo entered Shen’s ward alone, said Zhang Chengfeng’s name, and triggered a vision of a deserted village building.
• Chen Mo followed Shen’s flashlight to an altar holding more than twenty memorial tablets, including fourteen names he could not identify.

Xiao Chen witnessed a horrifying scene in Old Shen’s illusion and realized the spirit tablets did not match the known death toll from Zhang Chengfeng’s murders. After getting a list of Tang Village’s former residents, Xiao Chen and Master Sun set out for neighboring Happiness Village.

• Old Shen fled from a family covered in mud, then froze at the sight of twenty-one eerie villagers gathered beneath red lanterns in the courtyard.
• A badly mutilated dog licked Old Shen’s hand, making him scream and snapping Xiao Chen back to the hospital room.
• Xiao Chen put Old Shen to sleep, and Master Sun confirmed Zhang Chengfeng had killed six people, not more.
• Xiao Chen reconsidered the remaining spirit tablets and asked Master Sun to obtain names and ages of Tang Village’s former residents.
• Xiao Chen and Master Sun borrowed a car and headed toward Happiness Village instead of Tang Village.

The narrator recounted how Zhang Chengfeng’s wife and father died after a village thug abused them, and how Zhang Quan and the villagers failed to help him get justice. The narrator concluded that Zhang Chengfeng may have stayed nearby to take further revenge, while Yi Yang explained how village cliques enabled people to bully the weak.

• The narrator told An Ning and Yi Yang about the strange memories he had seen in Old Shen, and Yi Yang questioned why Zhang Chengfeng had killed more than six people.
• The narrator described how a thug raped Liu Guifen, causing her miscarriage and suicide, then beat Zhang Chengfeng’s father, who died three days later.
• Zhang Quan and villagers pressured Zhang Chengfeng not to report the thug, and the thug’s family refused his demand for compensation.
• Zhang Chengfeng reported the matter but found no evidence or witnesses, while the thug’s family continued to intimidate his mother.
• Zhang Chengfeng attacked the thug’s home with a cleaver and killed the thug’s family, a visiting neighbor, and the dog before evading the police.
• Yi Yang explained that villagers could form cliques through family ties and bully people who lacked the strength or courage to resist.

The narrator and An Ning traveled to Happiness Village and questioned village chief Zhang Qihong about Tang Village, then went there at midnight to investigate. They encountered a strange old man in an abandoned house, but he was not Zhang Chengfeng.

• The narrator and An Ning arrived in Happiness Village and stayed with village chief Zhang Qihong, who explained that many Tang Village residents had moved there after a mudslide.
• The narrator lied to Zhang Qihong about their reason for visiting and later told Yi Yang he suspected the chief might know something about Zhang Chengfeng.
• The narrator decided to visit Tang Village at night, and An Ning joined him after guessing he would sneak out.
• The narrator and An Ning searched the abandoned village for its ancestral hall but found no sign of it.
• A rocking chair moved by itself in an empty house, and an old man appeared; the narrator recognized that he was not Zhang Chengfeng and apologized before leaving.

While searching Tang Village for the ancestral hall, An Ning explained why Zhang Chengfeng had enslaved the dead to perform for his family. The performance appeared again, revealing that Zhang Chengfeng was now dead, and Yi Yang emerged from the undergrowth after blasting him with a talisman.

• The narrator and An Ning rested while searching for the ancestral hall, and An Ning suggested Zhang Chengfeng had enslaved the village’s Yin Souls to entertain his dead family.
• Red lanterns appeared above them, and twenty-five black-clad Yin Souls gathered to perform, with Zhang Chengfeng’s family watching.
• The narrator saw that Zhang Chengfeng looked old and dead, unlike the young, apparently living man Old Shen had encountered.
• The narrator pulled An Ning into the performance and charged toward Zhang Chengfeng, causing the Yin Souls to vanish as Zhang Chengfeng drifted toward the undergrowth.
• A talisman shot from the undergrowth and blasted Zhang Chengfeng back, revealing Yi Yang hiding there.

Chen Mo, Yi Yang, and An Ning discovered that Zhang Chengfeng had died and found his body alongside those of an old man and a young man, whom they suspected were the expert and his apprentice. After realizing Zhang Qihong had entered Chen Mo’s room, Chen Mo urged An Ning and Yi Yang to leave in the morning while he stayed behind to investigate a possible outsider from the organization.

• Chen Mo and Yi Yang caught Zhang Chengfeng, but he used the Soul-Peeling Art to injure their souls and escape.
• Chen Mo, Yi Yang, and An Ning searched the remaining abandoned houses and found Zhang Chengfeng’s corpse with those of an old man and a young man.
• Chen Mo examined the fatal wounds and concluded that a fourth person had killed all three and staged the scene to look like a mutual killing.
• Back at Zhang Qihong’s house, Chen Mo discovered the paper wedge at his door had fallen, showing Zhang Qihong had entered his room.
• Chen Mo told An Ning and Yi Yang to leave in the morning because he suspected an outsider from the organization was in the village, but he decided to stay and investigate.

The narrator searched the village for the ancestral hall and found spirit tablets in an abandoned house belonging to Zhang Qihong, including a tablet for Zhang Quan. After learning the real Zhang Qihong had been away for several days, the narrator realized the man posing as him was an impostor.

• The narrator sent An Ning and Yi Yang away, then stayed behind to investigate the village while suspecting Zhang Qihong had gone to Tang Village.
• An old villager told the narrator that Zhang Qihong was Zhang Quan's son and that Zhang Quan had once been Tang Village's chief.
• The narrator found an abandoned house containing twenty-five spirit tablets, including Zhang Quan's, and discovered that the house belonged to Zhang Qihong.
• The old villager said Zhang Qihong had been away at a meeting in town for several days, leading the narrator to conclude that the man at the house was not Zhang Qihong.

After discovering that the Zhang Qihong in the village was an impostor, the narrator secretly left for Tang Village and summoned Zhang Chengfeng’s ghost. Zhang Chengfeng could not help remove the soul in the narrator’s body, but revealed that the organization had once hired him to extract the souls of a recently deceased monk and seal two of them inside an Evil Buddha statue.

• The narrator found an ID photo showing that the real Zhang Qihong was a plump man, unlike the tall, thin impostor who had appeared after the group arrived in Happiness Village.
• Fake Zhang Qihong returned, and the narrator lied that An Ning and Yi Yang had gone back to Town before claiming he would leave the next morning.
• The narrator packed his belongings and slipped away at midnight to Tang Village, where he used the Spirit-Invoking Art to locate Zhang Chengfeng’s yin soul.
• Zhang Chengfeng refused to help remove the other soul from the narrator’s body and warned that the people who killed him and two others would silence anyone who learned too much.
• The narrator confirmed that Zhang Chengfeng had once belonged to the Evil Buddha organization, and Zhang Chengfeng recalled extracting the souls of a masked, bald monk who had just died.
• Zhang Chengfeng said that, at the organization’s higher-ups’ instruction, he sealed the monk’s heavenly and earth souls inside an Evil Buddha statue.

The narrator questioned Zhang Chengfeng about the Evil Buddha’s souls and pieced together how he had used Soul-Peeling Art to transfer souls between children. After urging Zhang Chengfeng to release the dead and leave, the narrator watched him go as the organization’s fake Zhang Qihong arrived to capture him.

• Zhang Chengfeng explained that Wu Huaqing had ordered him to seal the Evil Buddha’s heavenly and earth souls in a statue, while the human soul was placed in a baby who seemed to lack one.
• The narrator suspected Wu Huaqing had put the Evil Buddha’s human soul into his own disabled son, and concluded that Wu Huaqing had arranged Zhang Chengfeng’s death and kept the real Zhang Qihong away.
• The narrator accused Zhang Chengfeng of killing Zhang Qihong’s parents and transferring his unborn child’s soul into the infant Zhang Qihong, but Zhang Chengfeng stayed silent.
• The narrator urged Zhang Chengfeng to stop enslaving the dead and go be reincarnated, and Zhang Chengfeng left without answering.
• The organization’s fake Zhang Qihong arrived at Tang Village to capture the narrator.

Chen escaped the organization’s men in the Abandoned Village using illusions, then reunited with An Ning and Yi Yang in Town. Still convinced Wu Huaqing would eventually capture him and that the trip had failed to change his Fate Pattern, Chen left with An Ning and Yi Yang on the earliest train.

• Chen ambushed one of Fake Zhang Qihong’s men, but the search party surrounded him and Fake Zhang Qihong demanded answers about Qingyuan’s death and the Chongqing incident.
• Chen created multiple illusions of himself to confuse the group, then vanished while the real Chen escaped toward Happiness Village.
• Chen drove back to Town and worried that the organization would eventually capture him to get Li Fuguang from inside his body.
• Chen told Master Sun that the expert, his disciple, and Zhang Chengfeng had been killed by an organization, and warned him not to investigate.
• Chen, An Ning, and Yi Yang boarded the earliest train out of Town, and Chen comforted An Ning about finding another way to change her Fate Pattern.